Do glittering skyscrapers, extensive high-speed train networks, and a sizable economy, among other accomplishments, suffice to make China a developed economy? A panel of global experts tracking the country’s development said an overall economic boom is usually an unreliable indication. This is especially true for a country as populous and expansive as China, because general prosperity can mask regional imbalances and urban-rural inequality, they said. “China is still very much a developing country,” said Wu Haitao, Researcher of poverty issues at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, Hubei province. “The gross data in many cases do not reflect real problems, and a country’s real strength is often reflected by the level of balanced economic development,” he said.
Ashwani Muthoo, Director General of the New Development Bank’s Independent Evaluation Office, lauded China’s “incredible” and “highly commendable” progress over the past decades in multiple areas, a result of the Chinese government’s efficiency in project delivery. But he noted that more work needs to be done in a number of areas, especially in addressing rural-urban inequality. “I have been to a number of rural areas in China, and you can see there’s still a need for greater connectivity in some places,” he said, referring to the shortage of infrastructure in some of China’s remotest areas.
Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, said the country, with its 1.4 billion population and a large territory, is still very much an upper-middle income country by the World Bank’s standards, which means it is still a step away from acquiring developed-country status. “While it has done very well in ending poverty, there are still parts of China that need to progress along with the UN family,” he said. The UN Coordinator added that the country’s 14th Five Year Plan (2021-25), which laid more emphasis on bridging urban-rural inequalities, creates an opportunity for China and the UN to work together on that front. Chatterjee said he has confidence that if China progresses at its current pace, it could achieve all of the UN’s 2035 sustainable development goals.
The development experts made the remarks in response to the recent legislative effort by members of the United States House of Representatives to strip China of its developing nation status. The legislation, “Ending China’s Developing Nation Status Act”, was passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and would require the Secretary of State to pursue changing China’s status as a developing nation in international organizations. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin slammed the U.S. legislation aimed at ending China’s status as a developing nation, saying it is an attempt to contain China’s development. Washington does not get to decide whether China is a developing country or not, Wang said. “The United States cannot erase the fact that China is still a developing country, and it cannot block China’s firm strides toward national rejuvenation.”
A commentary published by People’s Daily on April 12 said that China’s achievements are recognized worldwide, and it is known as the “top student” among developing economies. “However, it is far from being a ‘graduate’ and still faces formidable challenges and difficulties,” it said.
There is no universal consensus as to what makes a developing or developed country. For example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows countries to self-declare whether they are developing countries. However, there are some economic benchmarks employed by international organizations to decide a country’s development status, and China still lags behind developed countries in most of these. For example, China’s per capita GDP last year was USD12,741, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). That is around one-fifth of the average level in developed economies, and 16.6% of that in the U.S.. China is also a developing country by the World Bank’s standards. The organization divides economies into four income groups – low, lower-middle, upper-middle and high income – based on gross national income (GNI) per capita. The high-income countries, with a per capital GNI above USD13,205, are commonly considered developed countries. The latest GNI per capita for China, USD11,880 in 2021, however, is below the threshold. China is also considered a developing country based on the United Nations’ Human Development Index. It ranks 79th globally, as compared with 21st for the U.S. China kicked off its decades-long fast-paced development when the nation launched its reform and opening-up policies in the late 1970s, and prioritized the development of coastal and urban areas.
Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of reform and opening-up, in a talk with then-Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange on March 28, 1986, said: “It is our policy to let some people and some regions prosper before others”. He pointed out that common prosperity would eventually be realized when the people and regions that prospered first helped those that lagged behind. Despite rapid gains in rural earnings due to stepped-up antipoverty efforts over the past decade, official data showed that the average rural disposable income – which was about CNY20,000 per capita last year – was still just half the level of its urban counterpart, the China Daily reports.
